Popular tourist spots are usually the go-to places when travelling. However, many have shared how they were almost scammed by strange individuals at these locations. This tactic isn’t new though, previously two masked ladies almost scammed an elderly man at Resorts World Genting before passersby noticed something suspicious.
Over the weekend, an Indonesian tourist shared his experience of visiting the Petronas Twin Towers where he noticed something suspicious about some “professional photographers”. Here’s what happened:
A few days ago, Indonesian content creator Muhammad Decco posted a TikTok video on his channel to warn his fellow Indonesians about alleged scammers posing as photographers around the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur. In the video posted above, he explained how these so-called photographers would scam their victims into paying them for their service.
“Be careful with this group of people. They’d offer to ‘help’ take your photo with the beautiful background of the towers and you would assume it was a nice gesture but turns out you’d have to pay them afterwards. They won’t discuss price at the beginning nor will they even mention that you’d need to pay them for the photos when they approach you,” he said in the video. The traveller further elaborated that the photographers would charge up to RM10 per photo after they were done.
After the video went viral, many Malaysian netizens chimed in to give their thoughts on the alleged scammers. Some claimed that this is not an uncommon sight in the city, especially nearby the towers as many of them are foreigners trying to survive. Others wanted to give the “photographers” the benefit of the doubt, saying that they might also be doing honest business as they never acted aggressively.
There were also those who tagged the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL), Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) and the Immigration Department in hopes that they would take action against foreigners who may be doing illegal business around the area as it would tarnish the city’s reputation.
At the time of writing, there has been no response by DBKL or DPRM regarding the incident. Have you encountered these photographers? Do you think they were actually scamming people?
